This week's Cemetery Traveler blog was guest written by my friend Teresa Lambert. I saw some of her images on Facebook a few months ago and was intrigued. She gracefully accepted my invitation to write an account of her visit to the Little BigHorn Battlefield. Her fascination and curiosity epitomize the reasons some of us go out of our way to visit cemeteries. Enjoy! - Ed Snyder
LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT
Teresa Straley Lambert
As a child of the ‘60s, I grew
up watching TV westerns: The Rifleman,
Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Maverick, The Wild, Wild West, and even an occasional F-Troop. And, as a child, it never
occurred to me to think that perhaps not all of the characters or situations
were portrayed as being historically correct. The “good guys” (Cowboys) all
wore white hats and won all of the battles, and the “bad guys” (Indians) all
wore very little and lost all the battles. Nor did I think about the “Cowboys and Indians” as a possible metaphor for what was happening during the Cold
War at the time. After all, I was just a kid. But whether the shows were
historically accurate or a mirror reflecting events and culture during the time
they were on the air, they encouraged my life-long interest in history,
especially American history. In addition, having a father and other memorable
teachers who taught that subject helped, as did our summer family vacations. I
swear we stopped at every historical marker in the entire country while
traveling!
Now, as a woman in her 60s, I still like to watch an occasional western, but mostly I enjoy traveling around the country and discovering or rediscovering historical sites to see what I can learn and to see if what I learn alters what I thought I knew about the place.
This is what happened this year when my husband and I took several road trips in our VW camper (“Our Blue Heaven”), covering thousands of miles all over the United States. One of the many memorable places we visited was Little Bighorn Battlefield, a national park in Crow Agency, Montana, featuring not only the battlefield where Custer and over 200 of his men fell along with numerous Indians of various tribes , but also the Reno-Benteen Entrenchment Trail, the Indian Memorial (yes, that’s its name), and Custer National Cemetery.
We arrived at the national park
early on a sunny September morning and discovered that because we are over 62
(I was actually four days shy of that age, but my husband qualified), we could
get a “forever” pass for U. S. national parks for the unbelievably low sum of
$10.00. The best ten bucks we ever spent!
Sadly, what I knew or remembered about “Custer’s Last Stand” from my history classes, I could have written on the back of a postcard. With room left to draw a picture or two. But after exploring the Visitor Center, with its dioramas, maps, artifacts, and film, I had a better understanding of the events that took place on this wide expanse of southeastern Montana on June 25-26, 1876.
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| Custer’s marker |
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| Indian markers |
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| Indian Memorial |
The
walkway then led to what at first appeared to be a large, circular mound with
four narrow stone openings and some kind of metal artwork behind it.
Approaching one of the openings, though, I saw that steps led down into a large
space honoring the Indian cultures represented at the battle. Granite slabs on
the stone walls, with etched or carved photographs, drawings, documents,
quotes, lists of names, and explanations, comprised the interior of the mound.
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| Indian Memorial |
Tribes represented include Apsaalooke,
Arapaho, Arikara, Cheyenne, Crow, Lakota, Oyate, and Sioux. In 1991, Congress
changed the official name of this area from Custer Battlefield National
Monument to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and ordered a memorial
to the Indians to be built there. Six years later, after conducting a
competition to create an Indian memorial, a design was chosen. The memorial’s
primary messages are “Peace through Unity” or “Power through Unity.”
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| Inside Indian Memorial |
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| Inside Indian Memorial |
Many historians believe that the
Battle of Little Bighorn did not end on top of “Last Stand Hill” but in “Deep
Ravine,” several hundred yards below the hill. Another pathway leads through
the prairie to this ravine, with warnings not to stray because of the rattlesnakes’
habitat! Didn’t have to remind me twice! However, some visitors disregarded the
sign and we can only hope that they did not cross paths with any venomous
critters. |
| Deep Ravine |
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| Field hospital |
From the trails winding around the outer borders of the entrenchment area, one can imagine the improvised field hospital in the center, designated with a red cross marker; the rifle pits and trenches, with dead horses and mules piled on them to add cover; the volunteers trying to get water from the river to the injured soldiers, who had been without it for hours; and the retreat crossing of the 7th Cavalry, with Crazy Horse, Wooden Leg, Black Elk and hundreds of warriors in pursuit.
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| River |
On our ride back to the Visitor
Center and the Custer National Cemetery, I contemplated what I had seen and
learned at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Most impressive to me, I think, was
the Indian Memorial, with the many quotes by both whites and Indians. In 1869,
for instance, after the Washita Battle, and seven years before the Battle of
Little Bighorn, George Armstrong Custer was quoted as saying, “I will never
kill another Cheyenne.” In reply,
Cheyenne tribesman Stone Forehead said, “If you break your promise, you and
your soldiers will go to dust like this.” Additionally, one hundred years
later, in 1969, John Wooden Legs said, “Our Land is everything to us. . . . I
will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our
grandfathers paid for it – with their lives.”
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| Unity through Peace |
Stay tuned for
Part 2 of Teresa Lambert's odyssey next week:
Teresa Straley Lambert, a teacher of academically gifted
students for nearly thirty years, discovered upon retiring in 2011 that her
hobbies of photography, travel, writing, and genealogy have turned into a
second career. Last year she published The
ABCs of Gravestone Symbols, an alphabet book using her photos of gravestone
symbols as well as verses she wrote to help explain possible meanings to those
symbols. She has also created many photo books of her travels and of
cemeteries.
She is a member of the artists’
co-op “Gaslight Gallery” in Findlay, Ohio, where she displays her travel
photos, greeting cards, calendars, and books with photographs from places such
as England, France, Canada, Peru, and all over the United States.
More
about Teresa Straley Lambert at the following websites:
•
fineartamerica.com (search “Teresa
Lambert”)
•
abcsofgravestonesymbols.com (author/book
page)
•
blurb.com (search “Dead Ends Cemetery
Photos”)
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| Teresa Straley Lambert |
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